If you’ve ever heard anyone complain about watered down beer, well, they’re not exactly wrong.
Beer is between ninety and ninety-five percent water. But that also makes beer and other liquids relatively expensive to transport. Coca-Cola, for example, is 90% H2O; so is orange juice. Every gallon of water is 8.34 pounds, and when packaging such as cans and outer cartons are also considered, a case of 24 cans of beer can weigh between 30-35 pounds.
Besides the monetary costs of shipping beer to thirsty consumers, there are also environmental costs. Most beer gets canned in easily recyclable aluminum or bottled in glass, but producing those materials is energy-intensive, and mining them can also cause ecological damage. Transporting packaged beer also generates greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change.
